Why the Xbox One might actually be a legitimate business expense

One of the best things about writing about video games for a living is that you can legitimately write off gaming purchases as business expenses. Hardware, software, accessories—everything gets a decent discount from the tax man come April. Now, one high-profile member of the Microsoft community is arguing that any small business owner can get on the act by writing off an upcoming Xbox One purchase as a legitimate expense.

Don't laugh. At least, don't laugh too hard. As Microsoft Xbox MVP and "Director of Consumer Camp" Marques Lyon explains in a recent blog post on Microsoft's Small Business support pages, the $499 Xbox One could "rival even the most modest of video conferencing and networking platforms" thanks to its 1080p Kinect camera and multi-person Skype chats.

But wait, there's more. Since the Xbox One features Internet Explorer, it has access to all of Microsoft's Office Web Apps, which you can edit with "a Wi-Fi keyboard and mouse." The system can also access your SkyDrive files though Internet Explorer, letting you share "photos from recent travels or images showing details and diagrams" on the big HDTV screen.

Lyon goes on to imagine the ability to beam content from your tablet onto the Xbox One through SmartGlass. He sees other future applications that could take the Xbox One "from the 'break room' to the 'board room.'"

The idea of using a game console for more productive uses isn't exactly new, from the InfoGenius Productivity Pak line that tried to turn your original Game Boy into a basic PDA ("Pop in the calculator cartridge, I need to figure out the compound interest on this account!") to various video conferencing apps across existing consoles. But it sounds like the age of Web-based cloud applications combined with a robust Internet Explorer built in to the Xbox One from the start could really let the system stand in for the office computer in many basic work situations.

That said, you should definitely consult a tax professional before you try to claim that it's crucial to the operation of your small business.

Promoted Comments

Listen, Microsoft: If your xbox is such a great deal for business, why don't you yank out 25% of the processing power and build a Xbox One based piece of hardware that is only for buisiness teleconferencing and access to Office 365? Apparently, Cisco and all other telecon companies are raking business over the coals. If your box is such a great deal for business, fill that need with a box built for business with the required security logins and everything else business needs. Call it the Xbox Business Edition.

94 Reader Comments

In that case, the iPad is a better business expense because it can do Facetime conference as well with not only iPad users but Macs and iPhones too.

And you don't have to be tied down to a TV screen.

I only half-way agree. True, most tablets can do some sort of video conferencing. However, that wouldn't be practical for a business setting. In my office, our meeting room has a large TV on the wall with video conferencing equipment for use in meetings with our US office. One camera plus one TV here, and the same thing on the other end. That's a whole lot easier than having a dozen people each holding an iPad. Not to mention that I'm pretty sure Facetime doesn't do group video chats, or at least not with more than 2 or 3 people.

I've never owned an Xbox so I can only speak as a PS owner. I've skimmed the giant wall of text SONY calls their TOS. And you don't have to read much of it to know there isn't even implied privacy on the PS platform.If MS' TOS are anywhere near the same it may be enough to scare off even the most budget conscious IT purchasing agent.

Surely someone whose job title is "Director of Consumer Camp" would not be grasping at straws, no matter how frail they may seem, in order to attempt to convince people of yet another selling point in order to boost sales. I mean, that's just patent nonsense, right?

Now that I've vented my overwhelming cynicism, I know this is anecdotal, but in my experience, bosses who are cool enough to allow a game console anywhere near the premises won't need to be sold on it being able to serve as a video conferencing device because they understand that letting employees unwind for a bit, time permitting, does wonders for morale. Those that are not like this, at least for now, will just laugh at you or just stare at you if you try and sell them on a video conferencing device that also happens to play games. I don't see this changing anytime soon and hopefully Marques Lyon is just saying this to get people talking about the Xbox One, which has worked at least in that regard.

"Please, for the love of god, pre-order one. We're begging you. You there, in the suit. You could use an Xbox One, right? I mean... it runs Windows 8. Kind of. You could use Office 365! And... and... Kinect for Excel is going to be awesome.

Listen, Microsoft: If your xbox is such a great deal for business, why don't you yank out 25% of the processing power and build a Xbox One based piece of hardware that is only for buisiness teleconferencing and access to Office 365? Apparently, Cisco and all other telecon companies are raking business over the coals. If your box is such a great deal for business, fill that need with a box built for business with the required security logins and everything else business needs. Call it the Xbox Business Edition.

IF they ask you about it (unlikely, $500 is not a big deal to the IRS), then you explain the reasoning behind your decisions and they tell you whether that's legal or not. You don't go to jail regardless of the decision - you need to pay tax due + penalty + interest if you're wrong. Honestly not a huge risk @ $500.

If you use the device partly for business and partly for pleasure, a partial write-off is allowed.

The xbox work station; that's not a bad idea. I could see the xbox replacing traditional desktops easily. College kids taking an xbox and a tv to college to do their homework and write their papers... Could be huge.

IF they ask you about it (unlikely, $500 is not a big deal to the IRS), then you explain the reasoning behind your decisions and they tell you whether that's legal or not. You don't go to jail regardless of the decision - you need to pay tax due + penalty + interest if you're wrong. Honestly not a huge risk @ $500.

If you use the device partly for business and partly for pleasure, a partial write-off is allowed.

I didn't say you go to jail. I said this is a great way to trigger an audit, which, even if every T is crossed and i is dotted is not fun and is also, potentially very expensive. If your business is not gaming of some sort or another, listing a gaming device as a business expense isn't necessarily a good idea. That goes double for anyone who happens to be freelance/self-employed. You really don't want things on your return that will flag special attention.

Wi-Fi keyboard and mouse? Do people know Wi-Fi refers to WLAN (wireless local area network) devices?

Actually, the Xbox 1 uses wifi-direct for its controllers, and it is possible to make a keyboard and mouse use it too. (I think HP had a wifi direct mouse, though I don't recall having ever heard of a keyboard like this). Of course, I'm sure it's a lot cheaper to get a wireless mouse and keyboard that uses a USB dongle, but lets not get too practical.

I don't think people realize that this sort of thing has always been the plan for Xbox One, this is not a "Eureka we can get businesses to buy one" idea. X1 has been designed to be a digital hub of a house since day one, so why not an office? Virtually everything from there, home automation, TV (how many businesses are running news all over the place?) security, phone are applicable to a business setting

It has been my constant position that the always-on XBox One Kinect requirement has much more to do with MS trying to expand the Skype "platform" so that every living room, PC, and phone supports it as the only universal videophone, and much less to do with trying to renew interest in a peripheral people didn't buy or care about on the 360.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the original always-on requirement (backed off to once a day and now only on console purchase) was supported in part by the vision of "Skype Everywhere". Your system would know if you were available, it could ring when people were calling you. Not unattractive as a feature, even if MS underestimated how much people disliked the idea of the XBox being online as a requirement.

With PC sales stagnant or declining, MS has to make sure that it owns whatever platform is going to make money in the future. Owning the platform is MS' business model.

I had thought about it several times for PS3 devices, but the browser its not up the job, its slow. While the build in browser is Opera, Sony never really upgraded it.

Now that Opera uses Webkit this could change. If the PS4 has a nice and fast web browser, I really see this gaming devices can fit business purposes for web apps, monitoring, basic surfing where you need to show some presentations, video conferences, etc.

In a conference room with a huge screen this could make sense. Before you think about monitoring or stock analysis with them, please be aware that most TVs are not designed for static images for a long period of hours.

Just read the manual of your TVs, it clearly says not to use them for stock trading or images which stay almost the same for long periods, which can cause burn images. I was not aware of that, so using a standard TV for web monitoring and other type of data that is showed on screen may damage your screen. This is why computer monitors exists, of course getting a big TV is way cheaper, in particular because computer screens cannot be purchased in sizes as 50, which are required for conference rooms.

But if you want conference or just casual browsing to show things to allot of people at the same time, training, seminar, etc, this may work very good.

I guess most would just buy a small PC for this which is cheaper than a gaming device, and nobody would take you serious in a conference using a gaming system, for the reason they cannot be integrated into external systems. Now if Microsoft does this with Skype, this could be really, really interesting.

Since Microsoft owns Skype, this could be an advantage over the Playstation unless Sony makes apps as well for communication with their camera.

I would love to have Skype in my living room.

The downside is that it comes with Explorer, ughhh....

At least the PS4 I assume will again come with Opera, and Opera is looking amazing with their new blink rendering engine.

Just wondering: could one of the purposes of the console version of IE was so they would have something to point WebTV folks at? Totally random thought. Probably not a major factor, but it could be a small, tiny one.

Hmm... I was hoping the PS3 (back when it had Linux) could be a good enough home computer for light use, web browsing, etc. Seems the XBO might have the same potential. It wouldn't be a "real" computer, but do enough to be useful, and play awesome games...

The xbox work station; that's not a bad idea. I could see the xbox replacing traditional desktops easily. College kids taking an xbox and a tv to college to do their homework and write their papers... Could be huge.

Greatest scam that your children can pull to get you to buy them XBox on top of paying their dorm rent and living costs!

the more i think about this, the more it feels like a classic case of, "just because you can, doesn't mean it's a good idea."

the xbox one can serve as a corporate videoconferencing widget, just as a corvette can be used to transport cargo cross-country. however, that doesn't mean it makes sense for a shipping company to sell all its 18-wheel tractor-trailer big-rigs and replace them with corvettes. it only seems logical if you're rich and bored.

the more i think about this, the more it feels like a classic case of, "just because you can, doesn't mean it's a good idea."

the xbox one can serve as a corporate videoconferencing widget, just as a corvette can be used to transport cargo cross-country. however, that doesn't mean it makes sense for a shipping company to sell all its 18-wheel tractor-trailer big-rigs and replace them with corvettes. it only seems logical if you're rich and bored.

Perhaps he meant 'modern', but my guess was that he just meant the Xbox1 would rival even the most modest platforms in price, ie. they're saying the Xbox1 is an inexpensive way to get the same functionality.

Listen, Microsoft: If your xbox is such a great deal for business, why don't you yank out 25% of the processing power and build a Xbox One based piece of hardware that is only for buisiness teleconferencing and access to Office 365? Apparently, Cisco and all other telecon companies are raking business over the coals. If your box is such a great deal for business, fill that need with a box built for business with the required security logins and everything else business needs. Call it the Xbox Business Edition.

Actually this would be awesome. Would be a lot easier to convince the boss to buy one.. and then also be a nice "break/time off" thing to do at lunch or something to get your mind off work for a little bit.

That's exactly the point! Guys, don't read those arguments seriously. You just need to tell them with a straight face to your boss . And then you get an Xbox for playing during lunch breaks

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area.